Author: Amy Michaels

Teaching Collaboration Merges Food Sustainability, Visual Design

By 2025, Ohio State plans to source 40 percent of on-campus food locally and sustainably. This commitment to future sustainability serves as the backdrop for the Food Futures: Design + Comparative Studies Teaching Cluster, a teaching collaboration between comparative studies senior lecturer Rick Livingston, associate professor of design Peter Chan and associate professor of English Ben McCorkle. The collaboration is housed within the Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme’s Livable Futures project, which encourages innovation and collaboration across disciplines to address societal and planetary issues. Follow this link to read more.

Sourced from: The Ohio State University

Collective Impact Assembly

Ohio State University Extension, Marion County & United Way of North Central Ohio invite you to join them for a Collective Impact Assembly featuring keynote speaker, Dan Duncan, faculty at the ABCD Institute & Senior Consultant for Clear Impact. The Impact Assembly will bring together land-grant universities, funders, community partners, and ordinary residents for cross-sector dialogue and peer learning to tackle complex, social issues. The assembly will take place on Thursday, March 28, 2019 from 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Registration opens February 15.
Follow this link to register for the Collective Impact Assembly.

Sourced from: CFAES

Ohio State Alliance for the American Dream Team Advances

Recently, members of the Alliance for the American Dream convened in Phoenix for a competition including 12 teams from four states. The Power of Home proposal from the Ohio State Alliance for the American Dream was selected by Schmidt Futures and will be advancing in the competition. Power of Home capitalizes on home-ownership as an opportunity for social mobility, while mitigating the risks for households on the edge of the middle class. Power of Home is an innovative digital service platform and suite of resources that leverages the purchase of a first home as a springboard for increasing income, reducing expenses, and maximizing the economic potential of the home. Follow this link to learn about all of Ohio State’s finalists.

Sourced from: The Ohio State University

Why Sustainable Transportation is Essential for Our Future Lecture: Harvey J. Miller

Modern humans enjoy mobility levels that are unprecedented in history. While this has benefits, it also has enormous social, health, and environmental costs. Harvey J. Miller discusses how resolving these costs is crucial if civilization is to survive the 21st century, a world that will see 10 billion people, most of whom will crowd into cities. Harvey J. Miller is the Reusche Chair in Geographic Information Science, Director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA) and Professor of Geography at The Ohio State University. The lecture will take place Sunday, February 17, 2019 at 3 p.m. Follow this link to learn more.

Sourced from:  The College of Arts and Sciences

 

2019 National Extension Conference on Volunteerism

The National Extension Conference on Volunteerism (NECV) is an opportunity for sharing and learning with colleagues from around the country who are interested in the latest trends and research in volunteerism. Featuring innovative ideas for reaching new volunteers and best practices for developing and retaining volunteers, NECV is focused on improving volunteer management efforts for Extension professionals. Conference participants will gather tools and skills through interactive sessions and networking with colleagues while developing plans to utilize these new resources in their own programs. The Conference is taking place May 14 -16, 2019 in Billings, Montana.
Follow this link for registration information.

Sourced from: Montana State University

The Value of Civic Engagement

A Midwest community recently completed a citizen satisfaction survey and the results of the survey defined the community as “benign.” The survey described the community as one where engagement wasn’t a priority for the local government and residents simply left the future of the community to those elected to represent them. There weren’t any glaring issues in the community and community leaders were not advancing any big ideas or preparing long range strategic plans. All is good when things are calm, right? Follow this link to read more.

Sourced from: Cities Speak

Designing the Human-Centered City

Urban designers have begun to understand that designing a city means designing for the well-being of the people who live there. Across the globe, leading mayors now champion a new appreciation of the role of design on livability. Last year, the City of Los Angeles gained attention for hiring its first chief design officer, tasked with improving civic architecture and public design across the city. Poached from a role as architecture critic for the L.A. Times, the city’s new design guru promises to tackle a variety of challenges ranging from homelessness to climate change through the lens of urban architecture. Other cities have offered residents simulated experiences of new design projects so they can offer personal feedback. In Boston, Emerson College created a multiplayer game that allows users to participate in simulated activities in the Chinatown neighborhood. Users are tasked with finding a job, a place to live, and a place to socialize, and then provide comments to inform planning priorities. A host of other cities have used augmented reality technology that allows residents to enter immersive visualizations of urban redesigns and give their feedback on proposals. Follow this link to read more.

Sourced from: Data Smart City Solutions

Rethink, Retool, Then Recycle?

Last year, China cracked down on recycling imports, forcing cities to get cleaner and more creative with their trash. Until recently, China has been the world’s dominant market for recyclable material; in 2016 the country counted for 60 percent of global demand and roughly a third of U.S. exports. But 2018 started with a cataclysmic bang, as China made good on promises to enact stringent standards on imported paper and plastic refuse. That resulted in a complete halt to imports of some 32 recycled materials. A collapse in prices for some goods followed, while others went into a sympathetic swoon. As a result, some cities such as Kirkwood, Missouri and Deltona, Florida suspended recycling altogether; while others scaled back on the types of waste they would accept. Follow this link to read more.

Sourced from: Next City